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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone will be at least the third to have a fingerprint sensor for security but it's alone in letting you use that for general shopping, thanks to a partnership with PayPal.
The sensor brings convenience for entering passcodes and could encourage more people to lock their phones. But fingerprint security isn't foolproof.
Here's what to know as you consider whether to place your trust in it:
How does it work?
The S5 has a sensor on the home button, just like Apple's iPhone 5s. On the S5, you train the phone to recognize your finger by swiping on it seven times. You also enter a passcode as a backup, so you're not locked out if the device doesn't recognize your print. On the iPhone, that can happen if your hand is greasy or wet, for instance.
The phone then converts the fingerprint information into a mathematical representation, known as a hash, and stores that in a secured location on the device. Samsung says that information stays on the device and is never shared.
When you want to unlock your phone, you simply swipe on the home button. A hash is again created and must match the one the phone already has. Otherwise, the phone stays locked.
You can do this with up to three fingers on the S5, compared with five on the iPhone. On the S5, you must swipe down. On the iPhone, you simply hold your finger on the home button, and you can do that sideways or upside down as well.
The HTC One Max also has a fingerprint sensor, though tests by The Associated Press have shown it to be inconsistent in recognizing prints.
What can you do with the fingerprint?
All three devices let you skip the passcode and unlock the phone.
You can also train the HTC phone to open a particular app automatically depending on the finger used. Apple lets you use the finger to authenticate purchases through its iTunes store, but it's keeping the system off-limits to outside parties. Samsung lets you make PayPal payments.
If you're at a retail store that accepts mobile payments through PayPal's app, for instance, you can use the fingerprint instead of your usual password. That's also the case with online transactions using PayPal on the phone. The hash doesn't get sent to PayPal. Rather, the phone verifies for PayPal that the fingerprint has been verified.
Anuj Nayar, senior director for global initiatives with eBay Inc.'s PayPal business, says there's usually a trade-off between security and convenience. Beef up security, and it's tough to use. Make it convenient, and open up windows for breaches. With fingerprint IDs, he says, you can have both.
Are you really getting security?
That depends.
It's more secure than not locking your phone with a passcode at all. It's also more secure than using a four-digit passcode, as there's a greater chance of guessing that than the particular hash used. But there's never a guarantee.
Shortly after Apple started selling the iPhone 5s, a German hacking group said it managed to bypass the fingerprint system by using a household printer and some wood glue to create an artificial copy of a genuine fingerprint.
The group said the fingerprint ID system was easy to trick, though it's not something easily pulled off in the real world. You need to have that specific phone and the fingerprint, for one thing. And then you compromise only that one phone.
Security experts point out that once a finger's compromised, you can't replace it the way you can a passcode. That doesn't mean someone can use an S5 breach to unlock an iPhone, though, as the hash formulas used are typically proprietary and kept secret.
But it's not a threat to take lightly, either.
"Biometrics work very well for identifying something, but whether you can use it for authentication or not depends on the implementation," says Jeremy Bennett, chief mobile architect for Intel Corp.'s security business, McAfee.
He prefers dual security — using the fingerprint with something else, such as a passcode.
Should you use it?
PayPal officials point out that behind the scenes, it's still performing the usual anti-fraud checks. If the account is used to buy a television in California just five minutes after you buy coffee in New York, it'll suspect something is up.
If the phone is lost or stolen, or your fingerprint is somehow compromised, you can contact PayPal to de-register that device from future use.
Drew Blackard, director of U.S. product planning at Samsung Electronics Co., says other forms of authentication have their flaws, too. Android phones let you swipe a pattern on the screen in lieu of a passcode, but Blackard points out it's possible to guess the pattern by examining the screen for smudges.
It's not bulletproof security, but it's more secure than existing methods, he says.
Despite the risks, Bennett says he sees potential.
"If it results in more people locking their phone," he says, "it improves security."
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President Clinton:
I'll start with a quote from the German filmmaker and television producer Alexander Kluge: "If I look through the window — a television window is something like an artificial window — then it represents what's going on in the world. In former times, people looked onto the marketplace. In Frankfurt, Goethe's mother looked out onto the marketplace and knew what was going on. If somebody didn't appear for a long time, he was dead. Today, for the majority, this experience has been replaced by television."
It's true in Germany, and it's true in this country: for most people today, social reality is constructed, in large part, by what's figured, and how it's configured, on television.
The great promise of public television is its potential to display everything that's going on in the world — in all its diversity, its primitiveness, its sophistication, its specificity, configured by every possible kind of voice: from inside and outside, discontented and secure, rhetorical, meditative, spontaneous, comic and tragic. If this were public television's project — that any subject could be named, taught, defended, embellished and refined, and that any person could appear — we would have access to a thick, rich field of experience that encouraged compassion, intelligence and informed action. And we wouldn't think someone had died, or some group or some energy had ceased to exist when it hadn't.
This is not, at present, public television's project. It seems to address a fantasy audience — a construction of vaguely liberal, upper-middle-class people, ashamed of wealth and guilty of indolence, who want to "feel part of the solution" by "viewing" the problem; who want to see themselves as a little more sophisticated than the fans of Oprah and Phil; who feel they should know more than there parents did about the better things in life (gourmet cooking, opera, nature, stocks and bonds). On this fantasy audience, it fosters a dream of significance, depth and elevation. It promises to perfect and protect the dream. The window is frosted.
What does a public, or community, actually need? Recognition, stimulation, progressive motion, social justice, health, information, pleasure and peace. For public TV to be truly public, it will have to envision, and then help to generate, a functional community. A functional community is one that takes care of itself and all its parts. For television to do this, it will have to talk with, not to the native genius, eccentric or otherwise, in this country, in a live, unmanaged manner. It will have to promote the battle of ideas and question nonfunctional operating mythologies. It will have to radically rethink "culture" and promote that special talent in this country that has insight and vision and craft. It will have to be international and feed back critical perspectives upon our cultural, political and economic presence on the globe, from all points of the globe. And it will have to respect and take on the realities of the 20th century: toxic wastes, the depletion of the environment, racism, high-level fraud, nuclear dangers, escalating medical costs, failing schools, etc.
To be public, public television would have to be messy — not well-pressed. It would have to be lively and exuberant–a home-grown, sometimes elegant, always fresh expression of the most vital elements in the community. It would have to be the site of public discourse and disorder — controversial and healing. It could be playful and absurd at times, but it always would be hotter than anything around.
Right now, there are very few hot moments on public television. It is a "packaged" space, high-minded and friendly, but airless. It's bound by its own very small notion of Culture. When it opens at all, when an occasional film or tape by an independent artist manages to slip past the guardians, then, not often enough, there is a blip on the screen, and one might recognize for a moment something intimate, something angry, something passionate, something heavy, something closer to life as it is lived by most of us.
Please, President Clinton, understand that television is the most important public space in this country. Without a window that shows everything, we will continue to live in a managed dream, where no one can recognize another. Support public television fully and unconditionally so that it has no excuse (or necessity) to compete with info-tainment for its audience, so that it has no excuse for modulating and mediating the intelligence, talent and passion in this country. Appoint people to govern it who love eccentricity, risk and information and who have a broad, inclusive and fair vision of what a clear window could mean.

subset: commoncrawl


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7 Things Men Really Really Want In A Relationship
Open any beauty magazine and you'll see article upon article about what women want in relationships and how to get that. But there's rarely a space for men to express their relationship needs. Thanks to MindBodyGreen for creating that space. Here are 7 things that men really want in a relationship.
1. To feel like your hero
We don't want to be your Clark Kent. We want to be your Superman. We want you to see us as leaping tall buildings in a single bound and catching bullets. We want to carry you in our arms and show you the world. Or at least feel that way. And I know it's our job to get there, but nothing gives us more strength than a woman who creates a space that makes us feel invincible. If you make us feel invincible, we'll make you feel like you're the most beautiful creature on this planet.
2. Acceptance
There's a new T-shirt trending Los Angeles titled "Love Me Anyways." They should make them for men. Because we NEED to feel that when we stack the dishes in the dishwasher like a five year-old, say the wrong thing in front of your friends, leave the toilet seat up, get too logical, forget something you've said a thousand times, that you love us anyways. Because inside every man is a boy who forgets he's a man sometimes. And every boy gets into things, not because he's bad but because he's got a curious mind and a short attention span.
Unconditional support from our woman is what will snap us out of our boyish behavior and inject us with a desire to be a stronger man. Only when you accept us as we are, who we are, will we want to become someone better.
3. Not to be left in the dark
So many women don't tell their men how they feel because they don't want to rock the boat. Or they're afraid. The truth is when you don't express yourself, you leave us in the dark. We don't really know the truth of you. You are prepackaging and presenting parts of your life instead of doing your whole life with us.
Couples grow and get stronger overcoming adversity, not by doing life separately. Know that every time you hold things in, you are building walls inside the sacred space of the relationship. No, we don't want you to verbally vomit on us. But believe it or not, we really do want to know who you truly are.
4. Blinders sex
There's sex. Then there's blinders sex, the kind of sex that gives you blinders, keeps your eyes forward and intentions straight when you're out in the world. Let's face it. Men are going to look. They're like squirrels. They get distracted by shiny things. But there's a difference between noticing and wanting. Blinders sex gets men to say, "Yeah, she may be pretty but I would never trade in what I have for anything else."
Blinders sex isn't just good sex. It's a unique connection with someone that makes you fantasize about them in the shower, call in sick so you can lie in bed all day making love and eating Oreos. It produces glue that cannot happen with anyone else.
5. The C-word
Communication. Without it, relationships are built on sand. We want you to communicate directly. We don't get clues. We need things spelled out. And we understand that if you have to spell it out, it's not the same. You don't just want us to do the dishes. You want us to want to do the dishes. We get it. OK, then tell us. Explain. Model how you would like us to communicate back.
For many of us, communication is not our specialty. We need some guidance. Generally speaking, men tend to pull from a logical place. Women pull from an emotional place. If you can meet us at logic, we will will match your emotions. Hopefully. But we need you to tell us.
6. Sweat
There's nothing sexier than working out with your intimate partner. Watching you sweat and work on your body only encourages us to work on ours as well. We get to see the raw and real you, a different type of naked. Now, if we do this together, we're in the act of building something, a lifestyle. We're not just talking. We're doing. And that's hot.
7. To have our own lives
We may not say it, because how do you tell the person you love to get a life? But we really want you to have your own life. Really. We want you to have your own set of friends, activities, and passions. Of course we want to be supportive of everything you care about and be a part of anything you would like us to be a part of, but we want you to have your own identity.
Because if you have nothing that is yours, our relationship is standing on one leg. Also, if you have your own life, it forces us to get our own life as well or risk losing you. Forget legs. Let's put our relationship on wheels. One is yours. One is mine. And together, we'll ride.
John Kim, LMFT, is an author, speaker, and a licensed marriage and family therapist who goes by the moniker The Angry Therapist. He runs a practice that redefines "therapy" in the traditional sense. Kim became known as an unconventional therapist who worked out of the box by seeing clients at coffee shops, on hikes, in a CrossFit box. He also believes that the internet can act as a therapeutic tool with an online community as the main space for growth and healing. He lives in Los Angeles.
More from the author:
How To Spot The One & Create Lasting Love
Check out Learn How To Turn Your Desires Into A Relationship That Lasts A Lifetime
More from the author:
How To Spot The One & Create Lasting Love
Check out Learn How To Turn Your Desires Into A Relationship That Lasts A Lifetime
John Kim, LMFT, is an author, speaker, and a licensed marriage and family therapist who goes by the moniker The Angry Therapist. He runs a practice that redefines "therapy" in the traditional sense. Kim became known as an unconventional therapist who worked out of the box by seeing clients at coffee shops, on hikes, in a CrossFit box. He also believes that the internet can act as a therapeutic tool with an online community as the main space for growth and healing. He lives in Los Angeles.
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MEIKHTILA, March 22, 2013 AP
Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence that killed at least 20 people smouldered across a central Myanmar town on Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread.
The government's struggle to contain the unrest in Meikhtila is proving another major challenge President Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent.
The scenes in Meikhtila, where homes and at least five mosques have been torched by angry mobs, were ominously reminiscent of the sectarian violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya that shook western Rakhine state last year, killing hundreds of people and driving more than 100,000 from their homes.
The clashes in Meikhtila which was tense but calm Friday are the first reported in central Myanmar since then.
Troubles began on Wednesday after an argument broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers. A Buddhist monk was among the first killed, inflaming tensions that led a Buddhist mob to rampage through a Muslim neighbourhood.
Violence continued Thursday, and by Friday, Win Htein, a local lawmaker from the opposition National League for Democracy, said he had counted at least 20 bodies. He said 1,200 Muslim families at least 6,000 people have fled their homes and taken refuge at a stadium and a police station.
On Friday, police seized knives, swords, hammers and sticks from young men in the streets and detained scores of looters.
Fires set to Muslim homes continued to burn, but angry Buddhist residents and monks prevented authorities from putting out the blazes.
It was difficult to determine the extent of destruction in the town because residents were too afraid to walk the streets and were sheltering in monasteries or other locations away from the violence.
"We don't feel safe and we have now moved inside a monastery," said Sein Shwe, a shop owner. "The situation is unpredictable and dangerous."
Some monks accosted and threatened journalists trying to cover the unrest, at one point trying to drag a group of several out of a van. One monk, whose faced was covered, shoved a foot—long dagger at the neck of an Associated Press photographer and demanded his camera. The photographer defused the situation by handing over his camera's memory card.
The group of nine journalists took refuge in a monastery and stayed there until a police unit was able to escort them to safety.
The U.N. secretary-general's special adviser to Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, issued a statement expressing "deep sorrow at the tragic loss of lives and destruction."
The U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, also said he was "deeply concerned about reports of violence and widespread property damage in Meikhtila."
Meikhtila is about 550 kilometres (340 miles) north of the main city of Yangon with a population of about 100,000 people, of which about a third are Muslims, Win Htein said. He said before this week's violence, the community had 17 mosques.
There was no apparent direct connection between the Meikhtila violence and that last year in Rakhine state. Rakhine Buddhists allege that Rohingya are mostly illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. The Muslim population of Meikhtila is believed to be mostly of Indian origin, and although religious tensions are longstanding, the incident sparking the violence seemed to be a small and isolated dispute.
Occasional isolated violence involving Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities has occurred for decades.
Under the military governments that ruled Myanmar from 1962 until 2011, ethnic and religious unrest was typically hushed up, an approach made easier in pre-Internet days, when there was a state monopoly on daily newspapers, radio and television, backed by tough censorship of other media.
But since an elected, though still military-backed, government took power in 2011, people have been using the Internet and social media in increasing numbers, and the press has been unshackled, with censorship mostly dropped and privately owned daily newspapers expected to hit the streets in the next few months.
The government of Thein Sein is constrained from using open force to quell unrest because it needs foreign approval in order to woo aid and investment. The previous military junta had no such compunctions about using force, and was ostracized by the international community for its human rights abuses.
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com
Friday, March 22, 2013
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Trimax Trailer Coupler Lock
- Prevent theft of your trailer with the Trimax Trailer Lock
- Die-cast or hardened steel construction
- Designed for unattended, unattached campers and trailers
- Fits into place within coupler and locks for 360 degrees of impenetrable protection
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- Fits most popular couplers, from 1-7/8" to 2-5/16"
- Ballistic grade nylon housing absorbs hammer blows
- Key hole cover protects against dirt, grime, and weather
- Type A high-security key resists drill-outs, will not bend
- Weighs 6 pounds, features 5/8" 16mm steel shackles
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- Easy installation
- Lifetime Warranty
No matter how active you are, nor how often you use your trailer, much of the time it sits unattended. Protect against theft during these moments with a Trimax Trailer Coupler Lock.
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There's simply no reason to leave your trailer unprotected. Keep it where it sits and enjoy many years of use with a Trimax Trailer Lock. Backed by a Lifetime Warranty.
Trimax Trailer Coupler Lock Customer Reviews
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Install Time: Instant


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Universe : | Shockwave |
Location of Event : | NX-01 [1] |
Year : | 2152 [1] |
Nature of Event : | Alternate timeline [1] |
In 2152 the NX-01 visited a Paraagans mining colony. Operations on the planet had rendered the atmosphere flammable, requiring strict protocols to be followed by all atmospheric craft. Although the Enterprise crew followed these protocols exactly, as the shuttlepod approached there was a gigantic explosion which utterly destroyed the colony and all 3,600 inhabitants. As the crew attempted to work out what had happened, Admiral Forrest recalled the ship and cancelled its mission of exploration. [2]
As Archer retired for the night he found himself in his residence in San Francisco. Trying to work out what had happened, he received the exact same com message from Commander Tucker which had had received ten months previously, shortly before Klaang arrived on Earth. Daniels arrived, telling Archer that he was not dreaming - he had been transported through space and time so that Daniels could use this as a safe place to talk. He went on to tell Archer that history recorded no explosion at the Paraagan colony; it must have been caused by one of the factions in the Temporal Cold War. [2]
Daniels returned Archer to the NX-01 with detailed information of how the plot may have been carried out. Using a phase discriminator Trip located a plasma generator attached to the shuttlepod - this had been used to ignite the explosion. He instructed Trip to build two quantum beacons to specifications which Daniels had provided. Using the database of future information left in Daniels' quarters, Archer took the NX-01 to the location of a cloaked Suliban stealth cruiser. Crippling the ship with phase cannon fire, the NX-01 launched a boarding party which located the Suliban ship's computer core and retrieved three information storage discs. With the raid successfully completed, the NX-01 headed for a rendezvous with a Vulcan ship. A translation of the discs proved once and for all that the Suliban had indeed caused the disaster at the Paraagan colony. [2]
Meanwhile Silik reported the NX-01's actions to his controller from the future. He was ordered to capture Archer, and proceeded to intercept the Starship with a fleet of Suliban warships. On Enterprise Archer explained to T'Pol how he had known about the cruiser - though she flatly refused to believe the story since the Vulcan Science Directorate had long ago determined that time travel was impossible. As they discussed the issue, the ship experienced an instability in the warp field. Archer ordered the quantum beacons turned aft, revealing the Suliban fleet surrounding the ship. Silik hailed Archer and ordered him to surrender himself within five minutes or face destruction. With no other choice, Archer agreed - but as he made his way to the docking port, he found himself in an unknown building alongside Daniels, looking our over a devastated cityscape. A distraught Daniels informed Archer that he was in the 31st century - and that as the result of some change in the past his own time period has been destroyed. Worse, with the time portals gone he has no way to return Archer to his own period. [2]
With Enterprise captured and taken to a Suliban Helix station, Silik was surprised to find himself unable to ommunicate with his controller. He began to interrogate the crew for information regarding Archer. [3]
In the future, meanwhile, Archer and Daniels searched a library for information regarding the changes to the timeline. Daniels was surprised to note that a monument to "The Federation" had never been built. He began to realise that removing Archer from his time had caused the exact disaster he had been trying to prevent. Returning Archer promised to restore the timeline, and Daniels tried to improvise a temporal communicator with Archer's communicator and hand scanner. [3]
On the NX-01 Silik detected a temporal signature which proved that T'Pol had not been lying about Archer's dissapearence. He drugged T'Pol and interrogated her, but gained little helpful information. Back in her quarters T'Pol heard a communication from Archer in the future, something she found hard to believe but did eventually accept. [3]
The NX-01 crew formed an escape plan; they attempted to retrieve a piece of equipment from Daniels' quarters. Lieutenant Reed was captured during the attempt, and was beaten for information. He informed Silik that he didn't know the function of the device, but that Archer had instructed him to destroy it so that it could not be used by Silik to contact anybody. Silik, believing the device might help him to contact his controller, returned to the temporal chamber on the Helix and activated the device. [3]
Back on the NX-01 the crew gained control of Engineering and created a simulated reactor overload. Fearing a massive explosion, Silik had the ship towed clear of the Helix whilst he continued trying to use the device. A figure appeared in the communications device... none other than Captain Archer. Using the combination of Suliban and Daniels' technology Archer was able to return to his own time. [3]
The NX-01 battled its way clear of the Helix, fighting multiple Suliban ships. Defeat seemed inevitable... until Archer arrived on a cell ship with Silik as his captive. Archer forced the Suliban ships to disengage and the Enterprise escaped to safety. [3]
Rendezvousing with the Vulcan ship D'kyr, Archer presented evidence vinidcating Enterprise of the Paraagan disaster. Even so Ambassador Soval recommended the recall of Enterprise, citing the reckless missions which the ship had engaged upon duing its the first year in space. T'Pol appealed in Archer's favour - and the decision was made to allow the ship to contine its mission. [3]
Canon source | Backstage source | Novel source | DITL speculation |
# | Series | Season | Source | Comment |
1 | Various Enterprise episodes | |||
2 | ENT | 1 | Shockwave, Part 1 | |
3 | ENT | 2 | Shockwave, Part 2 |
Series : | ENT Season |
Episode : | Various Enterprise episodes |
Series : | ENT Season 1 |
Episode : | Shockwave, Part 1 |
Series : | ENT Season 2 |
Episode : | Shockwave, Part 2 |
© Graham & Ian Kennedy | Page views : 32,214 | Last updated : 31 Aug 2016 |


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HD Hair & Beauty
Nestled in the heart of the UK's creative county of Staffordshire, award winning HD Hair and Beauty is one of the most sought-after salons in the Midlands.
HD Hair and Beauty, located in the heart of Staffordshire's creative county, is an award-winning salon offering bespoke beauty services and hairstyling that are tailored to your needs. As you walk into our hair salon, you will experience a relaxed and inviting space where you are listened to. Our hairdressers are trained to listen to what you want and create hairstyles that complement your features. We do everything, from full re-styling and perms to our famous curly hairstyle and colouring, to full re-styling. Plus, we also have highly qualified medical practitioners who offer aesthetic treatments like botox, Azzalure, cheek enhancements, and more. Book your appointment with us today!
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverhampton are also nearby. Cannock lies to the north of the West Midlands conurbation on the M6, A34 and A5 roads, and to the south of The Chase, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Acton Gate, Acton Hill, Ashmore, Bangley, Bednall Head, Beechdale, Beffcote, Bilbrook, Birchills, Blakenall Heath, Borough Park, Bridgtown, Bromley Hayes, Brownhills West, Burleyfields


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A day after the most significant street protests in Iran since the end of the 2009 uprising there, members of the Iranian Parliament called on Tuesday for the two most prominent opposition leaders to be prosecuted and sentenced to death for stirring unrest.
The call came as confrontations between government authorities and protesters inspired by the Tunisia and Egypt revolutions continued to unfold elsewhere in the region, with violent clashes in Bahrain and Yemen.
The protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities on Monday brought thousands onto the streets, defying an official prohibition and reviving memories of the mass protests that convulsed Iran after the disputed presidential election in 2009.
The demonstrations were ostensibly called to offer support for the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, but they soon turned into what opposition figures depicted as a renewal of the anti-government sentiment that the authorities sought to quash last year.
Iran's two man opposition leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Mussein Moussavi, were prevented from attending the protests on Monday in Tehran.
Nonetheless, the official IRNA news agency reported, 222 members of the 290-seat Parliament issued a statement on Tuesday saying they "are corrupts on earth and should be tried." the official IRNA news agency quoted members of parliament as saying in a statement.
The offense of being "corrupt of the earth," a catchall indictment of political dissent, carries the death sentence. It was not immediately clear whether the two men would be arrested. Both are under effective house arrest with their communications and movements restricted.
During a news conference in Washington, President Obama said he supported the courage of the Iranian demonstrators who were seeking a more representative government, and he criticized the Iranian government's response to the rallies.
"I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully in Iran," he said.
Mr. Obama went on to say: "Real change in these societies is not going to happen because of terrorism. It's not going to happen because you go around killing innocents. It's going to happen because people come together and apply moral force to a situation."
Iranian Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said the judiciary will deal "firmly and swiftly" with those behind the riots, the state-controlled Press TV said.
The official fury seemed to denote the authorities' displeasure and embarrassment at their opponents' ability to muster a significant display of defiance.
A spokesman for Mr. Moussavi said the protests showed that the so-called Green Movement, formed to challenge the disputed election in 2009, had scored a "great victory" and was "alive and well" despite a huge government crackdown when the government quashed dissent through the shooting of demonstrators, mass trials, torture, lengthy jail sentences and even executions of some of those taking part.
The authorities had refused to issue a permit for the demonstration but Amir Arjomand, the spokesman for Mr. Moussavi, said: "If the government had issued a permit and guaranteed the safety of the people, there would certainly have been millions of people out in Tehran and other cities."
The protests were not immediately reported on Iran's state-controlled media on Monday, and a summary of headlines in the newspapers carried by IRNA on Tuesday made no reference to them.
Initial reports said one person died in the clashes.
The dead man was officially identified on Tuesday as Saane Zhaleh, a student at Tehran Art University. But the government and opposition disputed his loyalties, with the authorities saying he was shot by opponents of the regime while opposition accounts said he was beaten to death by plainclothes government forces who roamed the streets on Tuesday on motorcycles.
The ISNA student news agency in Iran said two people had died but there was no immediate confirmation of that.
In what seemed part of choreographed effort to blame the two opposition leaders for the unrest, Fars news agency said there had been protests among pro-government students against the two opposition figures, who have repeatedly denied their critics' accusation that they are part of a Western plot to topple the Islamic revolutionary leadership.
Fars, a semiofficial service linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the demonstrations had been conducted by "hypocrites, monarchists, hooligans and seditionists" whose leaders were puppets of Britain and the United States. It ridiculed them for not chanting slogans about Egypt, the nominal reason for the protests, and said an unspecified number of people had been arrested.
The Parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, accused the United States and its allies of providing support to the opposition following uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
"The main aim of Americans was to simulate the recent events in the Middle East in Iran to divert attention from those countries," Mr. Larijani said, according to state radio.
There were no reports of further unrest in Iran on Tuesday, but the region continued to feel the tremors from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
In Bahrain, where a Sunni Muslim elite rules a largely Shiite nation, police clashed on Tuesday with mourners following the cortege of a protester killed on Monday. As the police fired tear gas in an attempt to block the funeral procession, a second demonstrator was killed by gunfire, human rights organizations said.
In Yemen, several hundred demonstrators to march from the university district in the capital, Sana, but police wielding wooden batons prevented them from going far, witnesses said. Then a group of pro-regime demonstrators began hurling rocks at their adversaries.
The size of the protests in Iran was unclear. Witness accounts and news reports from inside the country suggested that perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators in several cities defied strong warnings and took to the streets.
The unrest was an acute embarrassment for Iranian leaders, who had sought to portray the toppling of two secular rulers, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, as a triumph of popular support for Islam in the Arab world. They had refused permission to Iranian opposition groups seeking to march in solidarity with the Egyptians, and warned journalists and photographers based in the country, with success, not to report on the protests.
Iranian demonstrators portrayed the Arab insurrections as a different kind of triumph. "Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it's time for Sayyid Ali!" Iranian protesters chanted in Persian on videos posted online that appeared to be from Tehran, referring to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian authorities have shown that they will not hesitate to crush demonstrations with deadly force. Other governments across the Middle East and the Persian Gulf also moved aggressively to stamp out protests on Monday.
In the central Iranian city of Isfahan, many demonstrators were arrested after security forces clashed with them, reports said, and sporadic messages from inside Iran indicated that there had also been protests in Shiraz, Mashhad and Rasht.
Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian establishment have tried to depict the Arab movements as a long-awaited echo of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though Islamist parties had a low profile in both the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings.
The Iranian opposition has painted the Arab protests as an echo of its own anti-government movement in 2009, when citizens demanded basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mr. Karroubi said in an interview last week that the opposition had decided to organize a day of demonstrations to underscore the double standard of the government in lauding protesters in Arab countries while suppressing those at home.
Reports from inside Iran on Monday were harvested from a special Facebook page set up for the day called 25 Bahman, Twitter feeds, telephone calls and opposition Web sites.
They indicated that one tactic for sympathizers hoping to avoid a beating at the hands of the police was to drive to the demonstrations, with huge traffic jams reported in Tehran. Security forces on motorcycles tried to run down protesters, witnesses said.
Cellular telephone service was shut off around the main squares and the Internet slowed to a crawl, activists said. Echoing tactics in Egypt and Tunisia, sympathizers outside Iran set up the 25 Bahman Facebook page — named for Monday's date on the Iranian calendar — to collect videos, eyewitness accounts and any information.
Twitter feeds informed demonstrators to gather quickly at a certain intersection, then disperse rapidly. One video showed them burning a government poster as the chant against Ayatollah Khamenei rang out.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunity that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize in the last week."
Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Neil MacFarquhar from New York. Reporting was contributed by Michael Slackman from Manama, Bahrain; Laura Kasinof from Sana, Yemen; Artin Afkhami from Washington; and Maria Newman from New York.
This article "Iranian Lawmakers Call for Death of Opposition Leaders" originally appeared at The New York Times.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
Truthout has licensed this content. It may not be reproduced by any other source and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.


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Multiple arrests related to marijuana cultivation
According to a press release from the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, dated Dec. 19, 2011:
On December 13, 2011, after an extensive follow-up investigation stemming from the seizure of multiple commericial marijuana growing operations in the Dinsmore area in October, the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office Criminal Investigations Bureau, assisted by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department (HCSO), served search warrants on several locations in an attempt to locate and arrest Courtney Fleming and Tyler Meenan. Fleming was located and arrested for Possession of Marijuana for Sale and Cultivation of Marijuana pursuant to an arrest warrant issued for his role as a property owner related to the marijuana seized in Dinsmore. A search of Fleming's Fieldbrook residence led to the seizure of additional evidence indicating that he maintained that residence for the purposes of cultivating marijuana.
Tyler Meenan was located and arrested for Possession of Marijuana for Sale and Cultivation of Marijuana pursuant to an arrest warrant issued for his role (property owner) regarding the marijuana seized in Dinsmore. A search of his Arcata residence led to the seizure of additional evidence believed to be related to illegal drug trafficking. The residence at 3780 Jones Court, Fortuna was also searched pursuant to the search warrant. Seized from this location was approximately 14 pounds of processed marijuana, approximately 100 pounds of dry/unprocessed marijuana, and firearms.
Investigators then went to 1931 Ocean Avenue in McKinleyville in an attempt to locate two individuals who also had outstanding warrants for their arrest (Possession of Marijuana for Sale and Cultivation of Marijuana) for their roles regarding the marijuana seized in Dinsmore. Although unable to locate those persons, investigators detected the overwhelming odor of growing marijuana emitting from the entire area of the apartment complex, consisting of 13 individual units. One unit was searched with the consent of the occupant, which revealed a functional indoor marijuana growing operation but no growing marijuana plants.
A search warrant was sought and obtained for 11 of the 12 remaining apartments (1897, 1899, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1931, 1933, and 1935 Ocean Drive), 1941 Ocean Drive and several vehicles. Each location contained evidence of a functional indoor marijuana growing operation.
Arrested and booked at the HCCF were the following persons:
- Barbara Alice Benson, 1/10/45
- Kimberly Grace Mundy 06/18/63
- Dustin Ray Garnier 9/13/75
- Nicole M Rahman 07/16/85
- Patrick Majewski 01/15/83
- Vanessa Blount 12/15/86
- Robert Davis Cox 07/15/81
Anyone with information about the whereabouts Paul Givens and Vanessa Flieg is encouraged to contact the nearest local law enforcement agency.
Related to this case, News Coordinator, Terri Klemetson, interviewed Jason Long who said he had been staying at a friend's apartment located within the Ocean Ave., McKinleyville Apartment complex, cited in the press release above. The interview aired on KMUD News Fri. Dec. 16, 2011 and may be heard using the player below:
{mp3} news/jason mckinleyville bust {/mp3}


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By WILL GRAVES, AP
LONDON (AP) — Gabby Douglas believed two years ago, when she convinced her mother to let her move halfway across the country.
Martha Karolyi became a convert over the winter, when the bubbly teenager with the electric smile developed the tenacity required to be a champion.
Under the brightest lights, on the biggest stage, that belief shattered a glass ceiling.
Even if the first African-American to win an Olympic all-around title didn't quite realize it.
"I kind of forgot about that," Douglas said with a laugh.
Don't worry, Gabby, the world is going to have fun reminding you.
Douglas soared her way into history Thursday night, leading the whole way to climb a mountain paved by Ron Galimore, Dominique Dawes and a handful of others who showed the sport isn't just for the white or the privileged.
"How inspiring is that?" said Natalie Hawkins, the woman who allowed her then 14-year-old "baby" daughter to move from Virginia to Iowa in 2010 after Douglas convinced her that she was good enough to compete at the top.
She didn't have to wait long to find out.
Douglas was still trying to get used to the feeling of having her second gold medal in three days around her neck when Oprah chimed in.
"OMG I'm so THRILLED for Gabby. Flowing happy tears!!" Winfrey posted on Twitter.
Karolyi, the U.S. women's team coordinator called it "history made" while Liang Chow, the coach who channeled Douglas' precocious talent, believes his star pupil is "ready to move onto higher things."
She certainly looked like it on a flawless night in which Douglas grabbed the gold during her first event and never let silver medalist Viktoria Komova of Russia come close to wrenching it from her hands.
Explosive on vault and exquisite on uneven bars, Douglas never trailed. Though she sealed the third straight women's all-around title for an American with a floor routine that delighted the O2 Arena crowd, it was her pretty set on beam that provided the difference.
The event is a 90-second test of nerves, a twisting, turning ballet on a 4-inch slab of wood 4 feet off the ground. And for months, Douglas struggled to find a rhythm on it.
She led the national championships after the first day, only to hop off the beam moments into her first rotation of the finals, opening the door for world champion and friendly rival Jordyn Wieber to claim the title.
Wieber watched the Olympic finals from 20 rows up in the stands with the rest of Team USA after failing to make it out of qualifying. Teammate Aly Raisman never really recovered from a workmanlike set on bars and an uncharacteristic wobble on beam.
Raisman ended up tying with Russia's Aliya Mustafina for third, but the steely Russian earned the bronze on a tiebreaker, a wrenching setback for the American captain, an integral part of the group that won the first U.S. team gold in 16 years on Tuesday.
There were no such technicalities involved with Douglas, not even on the beam. She dazzled with a sparkling 15.5, never wavering, never wobbling, never losing focus.
This was the same girl who was so out of sorts when the team arrived in London a couple of weeks ago that Karolyi ordered Chow to give her a little pep talk?
Chow's message that day wasn't complicated. He urged Douglas to ignore the pain in her leg from a minor muscle strain and get down to business.
"He just said that everyone has pain, so just go out there and you know, why are you focused on that?" Douglas said. "He said, 'You're at the Olympics, and put that behind you, and, if you don't push it now you don't have a chance, you'll regret it."'
She didn't. Not after winning her mother over with the idea her future lay in Iowa with Chow instead of her family's home in Virginia Beach. Not after those long days in the gym when she would ask herself, "Why do I have to do this?" only to go and do it anyway.
And not after a little boost from Karolyi. The legendary coach made Douglas a surprising choice for the American Cup in New York in March. At the time, Karolyi said she just wanted Douglas to get some needed experience against a talented field.
But she knew.
She'd known for months.
She'd seen it during the training camps at the Karolyi Ranch north of Houston, where Douglas started to showcase the world-class talent Chow had spent a year unlocking.
Douglas went and won the whole thing that day at Madison Square Garden as an alternate, the asterisk next to her name officially making her ineligible for the title actually won by Wieber.
Still, the message had been sent. Douglas was ready.
"I foresee it," Karolyi said. "She charged every single competition she did better and better."
By then, Douglas' mom was won over. She raised four kids largely on her own, and tearfully made the decision to let her youngest train with Chow. She doubted herself but looked at the list of "pros" and "cons" her eldest daughter wrote up, and understood go she had to let go. Just a little.
Even if it hurt.
"I must have lost my marbles," Hawkins said. "But she wanted this more than anything."
And Douglas worked like it. Chow believes she just needed time to grow up. She's just 16.
Funny, she certainly looked all grown up on Thursday night. On a night that would turn most girls her age to tears, Douglas smiled. She laughed. She acted as if she expected to be here all along.
"She demonstrated she is an Olympic champion," Chow said.
One that could have a major influence on her sport.
Unlike some of her peers, Douglas looks like she's having fun out there. There is no drama when she competes, just joy. She has an energy that will make advertising executives swoon and likely turn her into a millionaire in the near future.
But this was never about money. It wasn't even about breaking down barriers. It was simply about challenging herself.
She never doubted she could be the best. Even when she was the only one who thought so.
"I wanted to seize the moment," she said.
History was just a bonus.
The Official Website of Gabrielle Douglas // International Elite Gymnast
For Olympic Coverage – www.nbcolympics.com


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Bohan Medical & Dental Center
The Bohan Medical & Dental Center is a regional hospital in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, located along the northernmost end of Leavenworth Avenue in Northern Gardens, Bohan, Liberty City.
Designated a respawn point when the player dies the closest to the hospital, the Bohan Medical & Dental Center is unusual in design as it appears to be based within a complex that is also occupied by commercial businesses (including a 24/7) as well as an LCPD station on the northern side of the structure.
Like most hospitals in the game, the hospital has no interior, but features parked Ambulances to the southwest along Leavenworth Avenue, as well as a health pack behind the southern steps to the hospital.
- The Bohan Medical & Dental Center is a good place to start a massacre and gain the "One Man Army" Achievement. To do this, the player has to gain a six star wanted level, either by killing the people outside and inside the hospital and destroying vehicles, or by typing in the "Gain One Star Wanted Level" cheat six times. Once the player has obtained the six star wanted level, hide at the back of the hospital. If any police officers come for you, just kill them. Keeping this up for five real-world minutes will give the player the achievement. If the player does run low on health, they can pick up the Health pack provided or they can enter the parked ambulances (although the ambulances to not restore all of the player's health), therefore staying alive.


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Methadone tablets
Brand Names: Dolophine, MethadoseWhat is this medicine?
METHADONE (METH a done) is a pain reliever. It is used to treat severe pain. The medicine is also used to prevent withdrawal symptoms in people addicted to other drugs.
How should I use this medicine?
Take this medicine by mouth with a drink of water. If the medicine upsets your stomach, take it with food or milk. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Do not take more medicine than you are told to take.
A special MedGuide will be given to you by the pharmacist with each prescription and refill. Be sure to read this information carefully each time.
Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed.
What side effects may I notice from receiving this medicine?
Side effects that you should report to your doctor or health care professional as soon as possible:
- allergic reactions like skin rash, itching or hives, swelling of the face, lips, or tongue
- breathing problems
- confusion
- signs and symptoms of a dangerous change in heartbeat or heart rhythm like chest pain; dizziness; fast or irregular heartbeat; palpitations; feeling faint or lightheaded, falls; breathing problems
- signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency like nausea; vomiting; loss of appetite; fatigue; weakness; dizziness; low blood pressure
- signs and symptoms of low blood pressure like dizziness; feeling faint or lightheaded, falls; unusually weak or tired
- signs and symptoms of serotonin syndrome like agitation; confusion; diarrhea; fast or irregular heartbeat; muscle twitching; stiff muscles; trouble walking; increased sweating; high fever; seizures; shivering; vomiting
- trouble passing urine or change in the amount of urine
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your doctor or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
- constipation
- dry mouth
- nausea, vomiting
- tiredness
What may interact with this medicine?
Do not take this medicine with any of the following medications:
- certain medicines for fungal infections like itraconazole, ketoconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole
- certain medicines for irregular heart beat like bepridil, bretylium, dronedarone, quinidine
- cisapride
- halofantrine
- mesoridazine
- pimozide
- rasagiline
- selegiline
- thioridazine
This medicine may also interact with the following medications:
- alcohol
- antihistamines for allergy, cough and cold
- antiviral medicines for HIV or AIDS
- arsenic trioxide
- atropine
- certain antibiotics like clarithromycin, erythromycin, gemifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, ofloxacin, pentamidine, telithromycin, rifampin, rifapentine
- certain medicines for anxiety or sleep
- certain medicines for bladder problems like oxybutynin, tolterodine
- certain medicines for cancer like dasatinib, lapatinib, sunitinib, vorinostat
- certain medicines for depression like amitriptyline, desipramine, fluoxetine, sertraline
- certain medicines for irregular heart beat like amiodarone, disopyramide, flecainide, procainamide, propafenone, sotalol
- certain medicines for malaria like chloroquine, mefloquine
- certain medicines for migraine headache like almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, zolmitriptan
- certain medicines for nausea or vomiting like dolasetron, droperidol, granisetron, ondansetron
- certain medicines for seizures like carbamazepine, phenobarbital, phenytoin, primidone
- certain medicines for stomach problems like dicyclomine, hyoscyamine
- certain medicines for travel sickness like scopolamine
- certain medicines for Parkinson's disease like benztropine, trihexyphenidyl
- fluconazole
- general anesthetics like halothane, isoflurane, methoxyflurane, propofol
- haloperidol
- ipratropium
- linezolid
- local anesthetics like lidocaine, pramoxine, tetracaine
- MAOIs like Marplan, Nardil, and Parnate
- medicines that relax muscles for surgery
- methylene blue
- octreotide
- other medicines that prolong the QT interval (cause an abnormal heart rhythm) like dofetilide, ziprasidone
- other narcotic medicines for pain or cough
- peginterferon alfa-2b
- phenothiazines like chlorpromazine, prochlorperazine
- ranolazine
- tacrolimus
- vardenafil
What if I miss a dose?
If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, take only that dose. Do not take double or extra doses.
Where should I keep my medicine?
Keep out of the reach of children. This medicine can be abused. Keep your medicine in a safe place to protect it from theft. Do not share this medicine with anyone. Selling or giving away this medicine is dangerous and is against the law.
Store at room temperature between 15 and 30 degrees C (59 and 86 degrees F). Keep container tightly closed.
This medicine may cause harm and death if it is taken by other adults, children, or pets. Return medicine that has not been used to an official disposal site. Contact the DEA at 1-800-882-9539 or your city/county government to find a site. If you cannot return the medicine, flush it down the toilet. Do not use the medicine after the expiration date.
What should I tell my health care provider before I take this medicine?
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
- Addison's disease
- brain tumor
- drug abuse or addiction
- gallbladder disease
- head injury
- history of irregular heartbeat
- if you often drink alcohol
- kidney disease
- liver disease
- low blood pressure
- lung or breathing disease, like asthma
- mental illness
- problems urinating
- seizures
- stomach or intestine problems
- thyroid disease
- an unusual or allergic reaction to methadone, other opioid analgesics, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
- pregnant or trying to get pregnant
- breast-feeding
What should I watch for while using this medicine?
Tell your health care provider if your pain does not go away, if it gets worse, or if you have new or a different type of pain. You may develop tolerance to this drug. Tolerance means that you will need a higher dose of the drug for pain relief. Tolerance is normal and is expected if you take this drug for a long time.
There are different types of narcotic drugs (opioids) for pain. If you take more than one type at the same time, you may have more side effects. Give your health care provider a list of all drugs you use. He or she will tell you how much drug to take. Do not take more drug than directed. Get emergency help right away if you have problems breathing.
Do not suddenly stop taking your drug because you may develop a severe reaction. Your body becomes used to the drug. This does NOT mean you are addicted. Addiction is a behavior related to getting and using a drug for a nonmedical reason. If you have pain, you have a medical reason to take pain drug. Your health care provider will tell you how much drug to take. If your health care provider wants you to stop the drug, the dose will be slowly lowered over time to avoid any side effects.
Talk to your health care provider about naloxone and how to get it. Naloxone is an emergency drug used for an opioid overdose. An overdose can happen if you take too much opioid. It can also happen if an opioid is taken with some other drugs or substances, like alcohol. Know the symptoms of an overdose, like trouble breathing, unusually tired or sleepy, or not being able to respond or wake up. Make sure to tell caregivers and close contacts where it is stored. Make sure they know how to use it. After naloxone is given, you must get emergency help right away. Naloxone is a temporary treatment. Repeat doses may be needed.
You may get drowsy or dizzy. Do not drive, use machinery, or do anything that needs mental alertness until you know how this drug affects you. Do not stand up or sit up quickly, especially if you are an older patient. This reduces the risk of dizzy or fainting spells. Alcohol may interfere with the effect of this drug. Avoid alcoholic drinks.
This drug will cause constipation. If you do not have a bowel movement for 3 days, call your health care provider.
Your mouth may get dry. Chewing sugarless gum or sucking hard candy and drinking plenty of water may help. Contact your health care provider if the problem does not go away or is severe.
Women should inform their doctor if they wish to become pregnant or think they might be pregnant. There is a potential for serious side effects to an unborn child. Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of breast-feeding while using this drug. This drug does pass into breast milk. Talk to your doctor if you plan to begin or stop using this drug while breast-feeding or if you plan to stop breast-feeding.


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KANSAS CITY — A move to warehouse distribution and away from direct-store-delivery will allow Hostess Brands, L.L.C. to compete toe-to-toe in the market for snack treats, said Richard C. Seban, president. In a July 9 interview with Milling & Baking News, Mr. Seban said Hostess is primed to win back its spot on familiar — and new — shelves this summer.
The new distribution approach was one of several significant changes Mr. Seban said will help restore luster to a brand and business diminished by struggles dating back many years. Retail sales of Hostess products are set to resume July 15 following a hiatus dating back nearly eight months.
As part of its acquisition of the Hostess snack cakes business, private equity firm Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management L.L.C. netted five plants, and Hostess has poured $30 million into four of these over the past few months. The plants are located at Columbus, Ga.; Schiller Park, Ill.; Indianapolis; and Emporia, Kas. A fifth plant in Los Angeles has not been reopened.
"The (four) plants structurally were among the better plants Hostess operated before for cakes, so the plants were structurally in reasonably good shape, but they did need some upgrades, and we spent about $30 million in opening these four bakeries," Mr. Seban said. "We did invest in upgrading various systems and processes as well as putting in new equipment. Over the next year, we're putting another $70 million in, primarily in capital equipment."
Additionally, Mr. Seban said Hostess is looking at opening a fifth facility that he said will be "more modern, state-of-the-art, and be located in an optimal area for both distribution and logistics." He declined to specify where the plant will be located.
Another significant change for Hostess is a shift in its distribution system, from one based on direct-store delivery to one geared toward delivery to warehouses.
"In a D.S.D. system, each stop has to generate a certain amount of revenue to generate profit because we have our own driver in a D.S.D. system stopping," Mr. Seban said in explaining the differences between the two systems for Hostess. "So if the stops were too small, and we couldn't service them on a D.S.D. route because they didn't do enough volume, then we couldn't service them. For example, there are 150,000 c-stores in the U.S. In November, we were calling on about 50,000 of them, or about a third. Now, because we're going through a warehouse direct system, we can use independent distributors … to go after literally everywhere that candy bars are sold. … We feel we now have the ability to sell wherever candy sells, and that opens up an additional 100,000 plus operating units for us."
Mr. Seban said the biggest challenge in moving to warehouse delivery was making the transition to a SAP system.
"When you're doing D.S.D. your people fill out the order," he said. "We now have to accept orders from customers. So it really required us to completely reconfigure our infrastructure. But, given the time we had to get our plants started we've been able to rebuild that infrastructure with the help of Acosta, our sales agent. They have been instrumental in getting us up to speed and offsetting some of the things we couldn't do quickly enough to get our infrastructure in shape. They've been able to support us in that way. So the warehouse direct system looks like there is an awful lot of upside for us."
The full interview of Mr. Seban will be published in the July 23 issue of Milling & Baking News.


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Whether you are a builder, homeowner, realtor, planner, historic preservationist, city or county planning, or otherwise involved in the construction industry, housing and development, or renovating or restoring properties and areas recovering from floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or other natural disasters, you will value this collection of publications with the latest codes, best practices and advice.
Are you looking for resources about retirement and end of career decisions? This official collection of Government resources will provide you with information about retirement, such as specific Federal employee retirement guidance within the CSRS program or FERS program. If you are in commercial industry or a business professional, and considering retirement, these other resources, such as What You Need to Know About Retirement and its' Spanish companion, Lo Que Usted Debe Saber Sobre Su Plan de Jubilacion may be able to provide you with guidance about your end-of-career decision.
These references highlight safety, road pavement conditions, statistical usage information, best practices for road related construction such as bridge inspections. Federal, state, and municipal government transportation officials and analysts as well as road construction and accident response crews may be interested in these resources.
Discover resources about U.S. highways and roads to include regulations for motor carriers, automobile vehicles, statistics, and transit travel options from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
Rural Cooperatives is USDA Rural Development's bi-monthly magazine contains articles and news items relevant to agricultural and non-agricultural cooperatives. The November/December issues contain an index referencing the articles that appeared in that year's issues.


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UPDATE for Friday, Sept. 30 2022 (9 a.m.) -- Hurricane Ian was downgraded for a time, but has returned to hurricane force winds. The most significant effects are expected Friday, with conditions improving Saturday morning. We anticipate approximately three to six inches of rain throughout the storm. A flash flood watch is in effect until at least 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.
UPDATE for Wednesday, Sept. 38 2022 -- The Town of Carrboro is closely monitoring Hurricane Ian to respond to potential impacts from severe weather beginning Friday, Sept. 30, through Sunday, Oct. 2. Currently the most significant risk is heavy rains and possible localized flash flooding. There is the potential for gusty winds, with minimal potential for damaging winds from Friday through Sunday. There is the very slight risk of isolated tornadoes.
Weather Information Check for news and weather updates at weather.gov/rah/. A detailed storm tracker can be found here: https://zoom.earth/storms/ian-2022/.
Carrboro Ready Access emergency information from agencies serving Carrboro at https://townofcarrboro.org/2633/Emergency-Resources-Carrboro-Ready
Emergency Notifications OC Alerts is Orange County's mass notification system. Sign up at https://member.everbridge.net/453003085611768/login
Get Ready NowHave an emergency kit prepared in advance in case there is a utility outage: Ready.gov/kit (English) and https://www.ready.gov/es/kit (Spanish)
If you experience flooding:
Keep yourself and your property safe
Community Closures and Event Announcements
Reporting Flooding The Town of Carrboro's Public Works and Stormwater Management teams are clearing many culverts and storm drains to reduce flooding. Just as crews check for issues on public property, residents can help ensure the drainage systems in their yards and neighborhoods continue functioning properly during and after a storm.
Reporting Power Outages A power outage is NOT an emergency. Please call your local power company to report an outage.
Duke Energy - https://www.duke-energy.com/outages
Piedmont Electric


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Good Morning!
Rise n' shine for a fresh start to the week.
It's Monday and I'm makin' you a batch of gluten-free apple pistachio crisp.
Yes, you heard me right. A simple Autumn apple dish that can easily be served for breakfast, mid-day snack or dessert.
So, sit back and let me introduce you to my new favorite crisp recipe.
It's hearty, flavorful an full of everything healthy…like apples, pistachios n' oats. We've all tasted a fancy crisp or a cobbler at one point in our lives but I assure you – you ain't tasted one like this before.
Unlike many crisp recipes, there's an absence of sugary junk in this one. It's a perfect way to use up your apples during their peak season and you can store it in your fridge for up to four fabulous days.
They don't call me, 'The Healthy Apple' for nothin'. I make a mean, lean and seriously green scrip, people.
I'm always cookin' and bakin' with apples but I got the idea to bake up this special apple dessert from my buddy Kelly from Just a Taste who will be posting a scrumptious apple recipe on Wednesday- so be on the lookout for that one. (She's got an amazing eye and palate for some pretty gosh darn incredible recipes) I'll let you find out for yourself with her magical touch.
My crisp is naturally sweet, just the way my clients and I like it and deliciously stuffed with apples and pistachios- along with some fresh orange juice n' zest and ground cinnamon.
Because what's a sweet treat if fruit isn't involved?
- 2 Tbsp. stevia
- 3 Tbsp. Earth Balance Vegan Butter Sticks
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. orange zest
- 3 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 large honeycrisp apples peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- ¼ cup finely chopped pistachios
- 1/4 cup gluten-free oats
- 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking dish with nonstick baking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine stevia, 1 tablespoon melted butter, cinnamon and orange zest. Add apples; gently toss to combine. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl, combine flour, pistachios, oats, and remaining butter. Using your fingers, mix to form a crumb consistency. Sprinkle crumbs over apples. Drizzle with freshly squeezed orange juice. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes.
Remove from oven; set aside to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Serve with a dollop of yogurt.


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This page is intended to be a brief summary of our present knowledge about the units of measurement employed in the STAR WARS galaxy. Some of the following information is derived directly from the films; this is irrefutable canon.
Some of it depends on planetological and other data printed in references from STAR WARS: The Roleplaying Game. The original invention of those figures was probably arbitrary, and the consequent results presented here are only as solid as the reader's willingness to accept the RPG material.
Thanks are due to, in alphabetic order:
The units of distance measurement employed in the STAR WARS galaxy are metric, based on the metre. In the A New Hope novel, for instance, Darth Vader is described as being over two metres tall, lightsabre beams are a metre long, and womp-rats are two or three metres in size.
Starfighter pilots and their targeting computers use metric metres. [Eg. Luke Skywalker's reference to womp rats in A New Hope; General Dodonna's reference to a thermal exhaust port.] The number of digits on the targeting displays for rebel X-Wing proton torpedos indicate that these weapons have an effective range of up to a million metres; a thousand kilometres. The reason why pilots at the Battle of Yavin were unable to fire until almost zero-range is because they flew near the station's surface. Flying near the surface put the target exhaust port over the horizon. Approaching the port from above the station's surface would have denied the pilots cover from the surrounding turbolaser batteries. With anything other than the trench-strafing approach, they would have been shot down before gaining a target lock.
Different units are used in flight simulation computer games like X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Although the dimensions of starships in the games are stated in terms of metres or kilometres, an unstated new unit is used to measure separations between vessels. However, as noted in the propulsion section below, the dynamics of these games are not quite the same as in the "real" STAR WARS universe, and the units have been contrived to maintain playability.
For special purposes, such as interstellar travel, there are supplementary units in use. One is the parsec, which is an astronomical unit characterising the distances between stars. A parsec is defined to be the distance at which the average separation between Earth and Sun would subtend an angle of one arcsecond (1/3600 of a degree) on the sky. The corresponding unit in the Galactic Empire would be based on the orbit of Coruscant rather than Earth. We don't yet have any way of determining what that measurement is; it could just as easily be slightly less or slightly greater, depending on the mass of Coruscant's sun. We provisionally assume that the orbital semimajor axis is the same. A terrestrial parsec equals 3.086x1016m. Han Solo boasted that his freighter, the Millennium Falcon, was capable of accomplishing a feat called "the Kessel Run" in "less than twelve parsecs". (The 'Run involves travel through or past an unnavigable region; taking a route of shorter distance requires a good ship and skillful pilot.)
A light-year is the distance travelled by light in one year. An Earth-based light-year is 9.461x1015m. However this is not appropriate in a STAR WARS context, because the galactic standard year is derived from the orbital period of Coruscant rather than Earth. As stated below in the time section, the standard year is slightly longer than the terrestrial equivalent. We assume that the standard second exactly equals the usual metric second. Therefore when a citizen of the Old Republic, Galactic Empire or New Republic quotes a distance in "light-years", the unit is actually 368/365.25 times our version of the light-year. (It is about 0.75% greater.) By the Coruscant definition, a light-year is approximately 9.531x1015m. In Shield of Lies, Lando Calrissian states that the galaxy is 120,000ly in diameter.
The value a=(Coruscant orbit semimajor axis)/(Earth orbit semimajor axis) is assumed to equal 1.
m km ly pc m 1 0.001 1.049x10-16 3.240x10-17/a km 1000 1 1.049x10-13 3.240x10-14/a ly 9.531x1015 9.531x1012 1 0.3088/a pc 3.086x1016a 3.086x1013a 3.238a 1
X-Wing proton torpedo target scope has six digits; according to the scale of the battle station and the length of the trench (roughly one eighth of the global circumference) the units of measurement are almost certainly metres. Furthermore the pilot briefing given by General Jan Dodonna was expressed in terms of metres.
The galactic standard second appears to be identical to the metric second. Higher units of time are reckoned according to the clock and calendar of Coruscant. A standard minute consists of 60 seconds; an hour consists of 60 minutes; a day consists of 24 hours. A standard week consists of 5 days; a month consists of seven weeks. A standard year is 368 days, including ten months, three fete weeks and three other holidays.
The dating systems of the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire are unknown. At least two proposals for dating standards have been used in non-canonical literature. Both are unsatisfactory:
s day week month year s 1 1.157x10-5 2.315x10-6 3.307x10-7 3.145x10-8 day 86400 1 0.2 2.857x10-2 2.717x10-3 week 4.320x105 5 1 0.1429 1.359x10-2 month 3.024x106 35 7 1 9.511x10-2 year 3.180x107 368 73.60 10.51 1
The sound of a large public clock in Imperial City on Coruscant, chiming three o'clock in the morning. The foreground noise is a rowdy crowd in celebration.
Nothing is known with certainty about the units of mass used in Palpatine's galaxy. By default, we should assume that the base unit is the metric kilogram.
At first thought, some might wonder whether the kilogram would be redefined because of Coruscant's surface gravity being higher than Earth's. This is just a confusion between the concepts of mass and weight. Weight is the force on an object due to gravity; mass is the amount of substance in the object. Force is mass multiplied by acceleration (such as the local acceleration due to gravity). Weight is equal to the mass times the strength of the local gravitational field. The metric unit of force is the newton (N), which equals 1kg.m/s². Obviously a different name would be used for the same unit in STAR WARS, since Sir Isaac Newton probably isn't remembered in that galaxy and era.
Mechanical scales do not directly measure mass. They measure the weight force. The mass reading is given according to a calibrated scale which assumes that the local gravity has a certain fixed value. The definition of mass itself is quite independent of weight and a planet's gravitational conditions.
Money in the Old Republic, Galactic Empire and New Republic takes the form of "galactic credits standard". This is a universal unit of currency. (For a few years after Palpatine's fall, though, there were competing New Republic and Imperial currencies.) In A New Hope, credits took the form of coins (as thrown from Han Solo to a bartender). The STAR WARS Monopoly CD-ROM states that although the galactic credit is standardised, local mints (presumably operating at a planetary or sector level) produce coins bearing regional symbols and labels. Roleplaying sources state that sophisticated electronic devices called credit chips are also used to record credit transactions. Credit chips are supposed to have nearly impregnable security and encryption. Credit notes akin to those used on Earth are not known.
Han Solo took his reward from the Yavin rebels in a form contained in heavy boxes of approximately the same dimensions as a shoe box. The total capacity of all these containers looked to be at least a ton. The material within the boxes was probably a commodity with a stable price; ordinary credit coinage or chips surely would not be so voluminous. The radio dramatisation suggests that the material was a precious metal. Solo and the rebels probably chose this form of transaction because actual credits could potentially be traced by Imperial Intelligence analysts.
There are very few canonical indicators of the value of the galactic credit. Ten thousand credits is considered to be excessively expensive as a fare from Tatooine (in the Outer Rim) to Alderaan (a Core world). A modestly priced transgalactic voyage along a fast hyperlane would take a few days and cost only a few thousand credits. A second-hand hyperspace-capable starship costs more (but not substantially more) than ten thousand credits. Luke Skywalker sold his worn-out landspeeder for approximately 2000 credits (the advance fee demanded by Han Solo for passage to Alderaan). Jabba the Hutt was known to pay 35000 credits bounty for live delivery of one of his wookiee debtors. Drinks at a Mos Eisley cantina cost several coins' worth, but the credit value of the individual coins is unknown.
There are numerous statements of credit value in official (but non-canon) sources. The roleplaying game has extensive tables of pricing. In novels, the training of a stormtrooper officer costs over half a million credits; ten million credits buys a wing of starfighters; C-3PO objectively values himself at 43000 credits, and his constituent parts as five thousand. A "decicred" coin, which is valued at a tenth of a credit, is flipped for gambling purposes [Rebel Dawn p.310].
There is zero nett inflation in the galactic economy. The credit retained roughly equal value over at least four millenia. Compare stated prices of goods and services stated in Tales of the Jedi Companion with prices for similar things in the films, unfilmed fiction and roleplaying material of the Palpatine Era. The absence of inflation for over 160 generations indicates extraordinary stability which deserves detailed examination. This fact is a key hint at the nature of the galactic economy. This should be discussed elsewhere.
Credits paid by Han Solo to the cantina bartender appeared to be rectangular metallic coins of some kind. A similar transaction took place when Luke Skywalker sold his landspeeder, but unfortunately Luke and the buyer were too far from camera for the exchanged tokens to be discerned. However, the exchange did involve items fitting into the palm of a hand, which were probably coins.
Images of various 1000-credit coins from the STAR WARS Monopoly game. The two lowermost golden coins bear the starburst in diamond logo of the Corporate Sector Authority.
Wupiupi coins of Tatooine from The Phantom Menace, during the period when Hutt syndicates dominated the planet and controlled its economy by issuing their own hard currency in opposition to the credits of the Old Republic.
Han Solo's reward from the rebels at yavin took the form of a bulky commodity stored in boxes. In the A New Hope radio dramatisation it was suggested that the goods were rare metals.
Bounty hunting is an important profession in the lives of disreputable citizens of the galaxy. Gangsters are willing to place generous bounties on their debtors. Even senior advisors of the Emperor are not above hiring mercenaries to capture important subversives and criminals. The hunters are able to pursue their prey across the galaxy and make a living for rewards of only tens of thousands of credits (e.g. Chewbacca's reward in ROTJ).
Both the flight-simulation computer games and the starship rules of the roleplaying game sacrifice realism in propulsion for the sake of the commonsense intuitions of air-dwelling players. The games implicitly assume the dynamics of vehicles flying in a resistive medium. In other words, it appears as if maintaining a velocity requires effort. In real empty space an object remains in motion at constant speed and direction until it is acted upon by a force; it does not dwindle to a halt when thrust is turned off.
A starfighter's drive systems actually cause straight-line acceleration, deceleration, and/or changes of direction and orientation. For realistic technical purposes the games' speed statistics should be regarded as either acceleration, thrust or engine power; the "acceleration" statistics are actually the ability to vary acceleration; and the manoeuvrability statistics should remain as measures some kind of maximum manoeuvring torque.
The propulsion statistics are usually stated in terms of arbitrary game-specific units that cannot be readily related to the real world. The computer games use a "speed" unit called the MGLT, which looks like it might be an acronym. The roleplaying game does not even label its distance and speed units. In fact the roleplaying units are said to take different values depending on the difficulty of movement due to local conditions, hazards and obstructions. The statistics are simply meant to convey the idea that some vessels are more nimble or are capable of outrunning other kinds of vessels. The only exception, when speeds are stated in terms of absolute metres per five seconds or kilometres per hour, is for atmospheric or ground movement.
The MGLT was used (and probably invented by) ILM artists long before the development of the modern computer games. The earliest known use of the term is in a diagram comparing the propulsive capabilities of starfighters, drawn during the production of Return of the Jedi. This illustration is reproduced in Return of the Jedi Sketchbook. As an acronym, the unit probably refers to something in the production of the movies' special effects; the "GL" could stand for "George Lucas". As a measurement of the maximum straight-line acceleration of a starship in space, it might (speculatively) be an acronym for something like "Micro-Gravity Linear [acceleration] Tolerance", as suggested by one reader. The instruction booklet for the game X-Wing: Alliance uses the phrase "megalights per hour" which is probably a colloquial second-generation attempt to rationalise the MGLT by inserting vowel sounds, but this might not have been the original ILM intention.
Judged on this basis, rather than the unrealistic kinematics of the computer games, the MGLT must be a measurement of acceleration. Because a star destroyer can keep pace with the Millennium Falcon in a straight-line chase, we know that it must have approximately the same statistic: 75 MGLT, or better if Solo was stressing his freighter beyond its safe limits. Since the Imperial fleet in Return of the Jedi demonstrated a deceleration of not less than 30km/s², [see Star Destroyers] 1 MGLT must equal at least 400m/s². This is about 40g in terms of Earth gravity, or 29gs in terms of Coruscant gravity.
A similar theory is that the MGLT may describe the residual acceleration felt by the crew of a spaceship, reduced from the full inertial force by the action of acceleration compensators (inertial dampers). This would complicate the specifications by convolving the propulsive capabilities with the precision and capacity of inertial dampers. The value of 1MGLT would have to be significantly less than the acceleration due to a standard gravity, because starfighters are known to perform at over 100MGLT and yet acclerations greater than a few standard gravities are harmful to human health.
Comparing the MGLT propulsion ratings from LucasArts and ILM with the roleplaying game statistics is not trivial. By performing regression analysis on the data for several known rebel and Imperial fighters and bombers, it is possible to derive approximate mathematical expressions relating these three different acceleration ratings. The ILM rating in MGLT is proportional to the LucasArts rating raised to the power of 2.4. Thus the TIE Avenger and Defender are 240MGLT and 282MGLT on the ILM scale. The WEG rating is weakly related to the other standards. If the LucasArts MGLT rating is L then the WEG rating is in the range W±1, where W=0.14L-5.5 approximately. Thus the WEG propulsion ratings of the Avenger and Defender cannot be less than 14 and 16 respectively.
For a discussion of the measurement of hyperspace capabilities, refer to Hyperspace : Duration and Speed.
m/s² gs MGLT m/s² 1 0.072 <0.0025 gs 13.93 1 <0.035 MGLT >400 >29 1
Original starship performance diagram from ILM, drawn for the production of Return of the Jedi. MGLT presumably is a measure of accelerative capability.
Similar-looking "speed" chart appearing in Behind the Magic seems to be more influenced by data based on the interpretation of MGLT used in spin-off computer games.
It must be stressed again that the use of speed-based statistics rather than realistic accelerative propulsion is simply a convention for the comfort of players. Other statistics in the computer games, including hull, shield and manoeuvrability codes, are also meant to imply that starships have different capabilities but may reflect the realistic STAR WARS universe only as well as the propulsion figures. Nevertheless, it is useful to consider what the game characteristics are, as well as what they realistically ought to be.
The magnitude of the MGLT can be determined by flying past large warships of known length at a fixed speed of 100MGLT whilst making careful timing measurements. Charbel Tengroth has performed these experiments and found that 100MGLT = 100m/s, and the relationship appears to be linear in the interval of 50-150MGLT. So in terms of gameplay, 1MGLT is one metre per second.
Makis Kalofolias has tested the game program further to determine that the game-speed MGLT equals 1m/s under all circumstances. He also finds that the internal accelerations statistics, expressed in MGLT/s are the same as the metric acceleration unit 1m/s².
His investigations also show that manoeuverability is actually two characteristics: a pitch rate (P) and a roll rate (R). The overall manoeuverability statistic is R+2P, and is measured in a unit called DPF. The meaning of this acronym is unknown, but it might be "degrees per frame" or something similar.
Mr Kalofolias also calibrated the units for armoured durability of hulls (RU, possibly "resistance units"), shield base durability (SBD), and the potency of weapons. It turns out that 1RU has the same effectiveness as 1SBD for resisting damage by starfighter weapons. That is the ideal behavior, but the game engine introduces some irregularities in order to provide a subtle sense of variation in the simulated combat. The unnamed units of weapon damage, in terms of which an ordinary proton torpedo is 10000, are destructively equivalent to 0.01 of a RU or SBD, ie. 1RU = 1SBD = 100 units of weapon destructiveness. If we define a basic unit of destructive potential (DP) equal to 1RU or 1SBD, some useful statistics for comparison are:
OBJECT RATING (DP) proton torpedo 100 heavy rocket 350 space bomb 650 ISD shields 4800 ISD hull ~2300
ISD refers to the common Imperator-class star destroyer.
In TIE Fighter the player is often allowed the choice of missile payload for missions invoving bombers or deluxe fightercraft. In this interface, blast ratings and propulsive capabilities are listed for each option. These statistics are roughly equivalent to those presented above based on internal inspection of the game engine.
WEAPON RATING (BLS) PROPULSION (MGLT) adv. concussion missile 60 280 proton torpedo 120 100 (?) adv. proton torpedo 150 space rocket 350 heavy space bomb 600
Standard values refer to the planet Coruscant, which is the capital of galactic civilisation and is considered the ideal inhabitable world for humans. Galaxy Guide 2: Yavin & Bespin claims that standard planetary density is 5.63 times that of water; ie. 5630kg.m-3. The book also contains several definite statements of measured statistics of particular planets and moons. Combining these figures with the known universal physical constants allows us to deduce the real values of the rest of the galactic standard units for planetary measurement.
The gas-giant planet Yavin has radius R=96239km, mass M=323.7Ms, and surface gravity g=2.74gs. Its year is slightly greater than 13 standard years, and its sidereal day is slightly less than 12 hours. The system is 7.5 billion years old. Combining the statistics for surface gravity and planetary mass yields an equation relating the standard units of surface gravity and planetary mass.
Taking note of the fact that standard surface gravity, planetary mass and planetary radius are actually the exact properties of a single planet, namely Coruscant, the standard values must equal:
For comparison, the mass of Earth is 5.974x1024kg, and its average surface gravity is 9.807 m.s-2. Therefore, Coruscant's gravity is 1.421 times that of Earth; its mass is 2.74 times Earth's; and its radius (and diameter) are 1.389 times Earth values. The surface area of Coruscant is almost double the surface area of Earth (1.929 times).
On a miscellaneous note: antigrav range for a habitable planet is within approximately six planetary diameters. In other words, within this range repulsorlift is the propulsion method of preference. For an Earth-sized body, this range is just under eighty-thousand kilometres.
For further information about the filmed planets of STAR WARS, refer to Planets.
The gas-giant planet Yavin; a vital yardstick for determining the standards of planetary characteristics in STAR WARS.
Coruscant (also known as Imperial Centre) as seen from space glitters and shines like a brilliant jewel, due to the refraction and reflection of sunshine off the countless angular surfaces of the city-covered globe. This planet is the standard by which other worlds are measured.
This page was constructed and is maintained by
Curtis Saxton.
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Flavor capsule cigarettes, e-cigarettes and China are giving a much needed boost to the global tobacco market.
According to a recent Euromonitor webinar, "The Tobacco Industry at a Crossroads: Cigarettes Growth Falters as Focus Falls on Alternatives," a key innovation trend is flavor capsule cigarettes, which reached sales of 70 billion sticks in 2012 and Euromonitor predicts will comfortably break 100 billion in 2013.
All major international brands now have a capsule variant used across all price levels, the analysts mentioned. Philip Morris International has launched Marlboro W-Burst, the world's first double capsule, while Esse launched the world's first slim capsule. Euromonitor analysts said to expect flavors beyond menthol, such as kretek. However, they warned that growth is threatened by flavorings bans.
World volume growth in cigarettes has slowed to 0.2% growth, although China has been keeping the market afloat. Excluding China, this figure would have been a 1.7% decline in growth. In fact, as Western Europe dominated the top decline in cigarette usage in 2012 (the top five decliners being Spain, Brazil, Italy, Poland and France), the analysts predict that China, Indonesia and Vietnam will be the future of the world's top 10 cigarette markets as a percentage of Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) volume growth from 2012 through 2017.
Future growth for smoking tobacco in 2012-2017 is predicted to be 21%, representing growth in volume and in value. Smoking shisha, water pipe tobacco, dominates in the Middle East and Africa with expected 21% volume growth from 2007-2012. The global smokeless tobacco market fell 22% in 2012 and India gutka bans, analysts said, are poised to decimate Asian-style chewing tobacco's share of the global smokeless tobacco market (In 2007 it had 50% of the market; analysts predict Asian-style chewing tobacco will represent 0.12% of value sales of the smokeless tobacco market in 2017).
Meanwhile, $3 billion was spent on e-cigarettes globally in 2013, with the U.S. leading the majority of sales in 2012. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) smoking cessation products, including e-cigarettes, in the U.S. are predicted to reach $51 billion in 2013. (Read more about the flavor market for e-cigarettes in P&F's April 2013 issue). At the time of publication, these devises which use atomizers powered by batteries that vaporize a liquid solution into an aerosol mist that's inhaled, were not specifically regulated in a number of countries including the U.S. and China. They are regulated as medicines in several countries including the U.K., but bans have cropped up in Brazil, Singapore (sale and use), Denmark (nicotine), Japan (nicotine), Hong Kong (nicotine), Australia (nicotine), Switzerland (sale), Columbia, Mexico (sale), Norway (sale), Estonia (sale), Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Still, Euromonitor says that the tobacco industry will benefit from higher prices, up trading in developing markets, cigarette alternatives and the rising smoking population in Asia Pacific.


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Bronx, NY – Russell Martin hit a pair of homers, including a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the New York Yankees beat the New York Mets, 5-4, to complete a three-game sweep.
Jon Rauch (3-6), who recorded the final out in the eighth, stayed on to pitch the ninth. Martin stepped to the plate and smacked the ball over the wall in left to win the game for the Yankees.
Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez had an RBI apiece for the Yankees, who swept the Mets in a three-game series at home for the first time since 2003.
Andy Pettitte gave up three runs -- two earned -- on five hits over six innings for the Yankees. Pettitte seemed to hurt his left hand in the sixth after he snared Scott Hairston's comebacker with his bare hand.
"No I'm good, it's swollen and as soon as the swelling gets out it will be fine," said Pettitte. "It got me right up high near the fingers. It was just hard to throw because I really couldn't feel the ball."
Boone Logan (1-0) recorded the final two outs in the ninth to pick up his first win of the season.
Jordany Valdespin had two RBI for the Mets, who have lost six of seven. Vinny Rottino and Ike Davis added an RBI apiece.
"Everybody goes through a bad stretch and this is ours," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "It didn't matter what move we made it didn't work. We just have to fight through it and pick each other up."
Mets starter Jon Niese gave up two unearned runs on seven hits over seven full frames.
The Mets gave Niese some early support by scoring three runs in the second inning. Hairston led off with a double down the left-field line and crossed the plate on Rottino's single up the middle. Omar Quintanilla walked and Mike Nickeas reached base on second baseman Robinson Cano's fielding error to load the bases with one out. Valdespin followed with a two-run double to right.
The Yankees finally got some runs off Niese in the seventh. With two outs, Andruw Jones reached first on third baseman David Wright's throwing error. Martin followed with a homer to right. The ball sailed over Hairston's outstretched glove and hit off the top of the wall before going over for a homer.
The home team tacked on two more runs in the eighth to go in front. Bobby Parnell started the inning on the mound for the Mets. Derek Jeter reached base on an infield single to shortstop. The ball rolled past a charging Quintanilla and Jeter went to second on the fielding error. Curtis Granderson followed with a single to put men on the corners. Teixeira and Rodriguez followed with back-to-back RBI singles for a 4-3 lead. Tim Byrdak came in and retired the next two batters. Rauch recorded the final out of the frame to keep it a one-run game.
But the Mets tied the game in the ninth. Rafael Soriano gave up a leadoff double to Lucas Duda. Davis followed with an RBI double to center. Quintanilla then hit a grounder to shortstop Jayson Nix. Davis was thrown out trying to go to third on the play. Pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy singled to put runners on the corners. Logan came in from the bullpen and got the final two outs to keep it 4-4.
Game Notes
The Yankees went 5-1 on a six-game homestand...The Yankees (34-25) are a season-high nine games over .500...The Mets fell to 1-5 on a nine-game road trip...The Yankees recorded their fourth series sweep of the season...Rodriguez collected his 1,918th career RBI, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Eddie Murray for sole possession of seventh place on the all-time list.


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